Chris Cornell & Timbaland? Scream!

Samples, hip-hop beats, record scratches, synthesizers, and... Chris Cornell?

The grunge icon has teamed with pop/hip-hop mega producer Timbaland on what is easily his most daring solo effort, "Scream," out this week.

The photo on the cover of Chris Cornell's latest solo album shows the gifted rock wailer forcefully smashing his electric guitar. This ax execution is not in the spirit of, say, Courtney Love. Cornell simply didn't need a guitar to create this Timbaland-produced, computer-generated dance-floor disaster.

Longtime fans of the former Soundgarden and Audioslave frontman's work may easily be turned off by his latest experiment, which gives a slick and almost synthetic feel — no doubt due to Timbaland — to his otherwise earthy music and vocals.

Gleaming ballads like "Long Gone" and the title track wring mild drama from a combination of Cornell's husky crooning and stacks of portentous Phil Collins–derived synths. Now, some of this stuff isn't bad, but the fast numbers ("Time," "Get Up"), with Cornell's angsty rock-god vocals are fresher and more enjoyable, at least in a monkey-riding-a-tricycle sort of way.

These synth-driven tracks will send you into convulsions at best, make you choke yourself with your iPod earbuds at worst. Cornell's sky-scraping power scream has been neutered by technology, urban beats and face-numbing "soundscape" production. What is that vocal effect? Vocoder? Auto-Tune? Cylon?

It's natural for a 44-year-old man to crave experimentation. Cornell's first solo album, 1999's "Euphoria Morning," was an innocuous-enough outlet. Even his cover of Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean" on 2007's "Carry On" was tolerable. But for a guy with Cornell's pipes, "Scream" is a bizarre waste.

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